three types of movement for youthfulness

                                  

                                            (standing spinal twist)

It's a bit silly of me to write that, really, because of course there are so many different ways to move our body to stay youthful. This is really about three group types of exercise.

flexibility exercises

These really are about warming up the body prior to exercise. And really, we can warm up in many ways. For example:

• walking: walk a bit slower to start with to warm up the body
• lifting weights, such as doing, say, 10 repetitions of arm movements like triceps curls, with 500 grams to five kilos of weights: do a set of ten (for example) with no weights, then do your next set with the weights. The set without the weights is your warm up for that exercise and you do it in this way for each exercise for each muscle group
• with yoga, many hold relaxed stretches with deep breathing before the yoga workout. I prefer for myself, and as a teacher, to do movements which loosen and warm up the body. The two main areas to loosen are to do with joints, mainly the shoulders and hips: I recommend shoulder circles or wide arm circles; and for the hips: sway hips from side to side, push them backwards and forwards.  

When we are out of condition, have been unwell or injured, I would say to focus on generally moving around, and do mainly flexibility and mobility movements to repair your body and restore movement.

I would say to never underestimate these types of movements.

Mobility exercise

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Some flexibility movements are called mobility exercises. Mobility exercises do just what the name suggests: they keep us mobile. It's quite common, as we get older, for us to have:

• stiff shoulders and/or rounded upper back: hold a stretchy band or piece of cloth, taut, raise arms up and take them overhead, as far back and wide as you can, then return.
• weak ankles: go up and down on your toes to strengthen your ankles
• hip problems, especially with opening the hips: do the above hip movements
• rounded and/or stiff upper back: it's helpful to have good movement here, and some stretches, which open up the chest, especially in yoga, are very beneficial. Like camel pose. A tight chest is not helpful, it restricts breathing, thereby making us tired. It also makes twisting more difficult. Not many people realise that the main part of twisting the spine is in the area called the thoracic spine. I recommend slowly flinging your arms wide and straight out at shoulder level as you twist to one side, focusing the twist in the thoracic area, return to start then do the other side. Do several turns. 

                           

Quite a few yoga poses can be done rhythmically, rather than just holding them as a stretch, to warm up the body prior to stretching, doing yoga poses, lifting weights, or doing calisthenics, as in this reclining spinal twist (above), taking the knees from side to side.   

                    

                                           (camel pose)

Yoga, or stretching

First up, yoga is not just about stretching. But, yes, we can stretch a lot in the postures. Yoga can improve the shape, and grace, of our body. What does grace of body mean? It is that we move gracefully, and this is done quite naturally. Stretching regenerates our skin. The more traditional poses work strongly on our glands, so that we have better hormone regulation, and this is very rejuvenating.

The poses can be done:

• seated
• lying on the back, front or side
• all fours
• standing

They are grouped as: 

• balance
• backward bending
• forward bending
• twisting
• up-side down

A wonderful older yoga teacher, called Yogi Chi-uh, said in a talk which I went to when I was quite young, that everyday she did one each of these, and she varied them each day: backwards, forwards, twist, up-side down. This was how she restored her body from being arthritic in a wheel chair. She inspired me. Forever.